110 



MANUAL OF GARDENING 



in Fig. 116. A marker can be rigged to a wheel-barrow, as in 

 Fig. 117. A rod is secured underneath the front truss, and 



from its end an adjust- 

 able trailer, B, is hung. 

 The wheel of the bar- 

 row marks the row, and 

 the trailer indicates the 

 place of the next row, 

 thereby keeping the 

 rows parallel. A hand 

 sled-marker is shown 

 in Fig. 118, and a simi- 



119. Trailing sled-marker. ^^^ ^^^j^^ ^^^ ^^ gg_ 



cured to the frame of a sulky cultivator (Fig. 119) or other 

 wheel tool. A good adjustable sled-marker is outlined in Fig. 

 120. 



Enriching the land. 



Two problems are involved in the fertilizing of the land: 

 the direct addition of plant-food, and the improvement of the 

 physical structure of 

 the soil. The latter 

 office is often the more 

 important. 



Lands that, on the 

 one hand, are very 

 hard and solid, with a 

 tendency to bake, and, 

 on the other, that are 

 loose and leachy, are 

 very greatly benefited 



120. Adjustable sled-marker. 



by the addition of organic matter. When this organic matter — 

 as animal and plant remains — decays and becomes thoroughly 

 incorporated with the soil, it forms what is called humus. The 



